Leviticus 1:6-9

The head, the fat, the legs, the entrails. What do they mean? What are they typical of?

The head represents your thoughts, your thinking processes. Remember, you are identified now with the animal, you are the one that is going to be completely devoted. You laid hands on that animal and you are going to be devoted to death. And so God wants to make clear that you understand that He wants all of your thinking processes. That head is going to be offered there too and it is going to burn.

The legs represent the conduct of your life, the way that you walk. So Christianity is not just a thinking religion where we believe because of academic understanding, but it is something that is put into action and the way that we conduct our life. That too is devoted to God.

The entrails represent your emotions. God wants your emotions to be like His as well, to be devoted to Him. Your guts.

And then what about the fat? The Bible uses the fat as a symbol of things that are good, of prosperity, of peace. It is a symbol of richness, of well being, a symbol of good health. And so the fat is burned representing your general health and your vigor. He wants all of your energy as well. Whatever you do, you do with all of your might. You think it through, you act it out or walk it out, you do it in the right emotion, and you do it with all of your might. Complete devotion to God, totally surrendered, nothing reserved for yourself.

So to God, the burnt offering tells us that we must give Him a total love, a love which dominates our emotions, directs our thoughts. It is the dynamic of all of our actions.

Leviticus 1:6-9

With that in mind, go back to Leviticus 1. What does the head represent? Remember, this is a totally devoted offering that represents the man. In our head is our brain. In our head, you might say, is our mind, and so the head represents our thoughts. I am going to skip the fat for just a minute. What about the entrails? That has to do with the emotional quality of our life, our feelings. What about the legs? Everybody ought to know this. That has to do with the way we walk—the way we live our life, the way we work.

What about the fat? Fat is used in the Bible as a symbol of prosperity. It has to do in this context with our general health and vigor, or strength and energy. What do we have when we put these all together? We have an ever clearer identification with a total devotion, total surrender. Every aspect of our life surrendered to God's will. Nothing is held back. Nothing is reserved for ourselves. Everything is given as a gift—time, thinking, feelings, the way we do things, attitudes.

Leviticus 1:1-13

Do you understand that what Jesus described is a whole burnt offering? The burnt offering of Leviticus 1:1-13 is describing the offering of an animal, but God expects you and me in the offering of a life lived completely—a life completely consumed in obedience to living God's way. There is nothing that will prepare us for the Kingdom of God to be both king and priest like following, with all of our being, Leviticus 1:1-13, and what that burnt offering means. Jesus did it. Jesus was a whole burnt offering to God.